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I can’t believe it has been a year since I was going all weak in the knees for Ringer, Revenge and Once Upon A Time. It’s that time again, what to watch this year.

So what am I excited about this year? Quite a bit actually, and as always the 3 episode rule applies, its rare when a pilot nails it, you have to give a new show at least three episodes to settle and give the viewer some indication of where it is headed.

So which shows get at least three episodes?

666 Park Avenue – Terry O’Quinn and Vanessa Williams star, it looks pretty campy and the premise sounds silly. Click on the title to read it. But, I will give it 3, who knows it could be the big break out of the fall. But I doubt it.

Revolution – Bill Burke and the electronic apocalypse. Interesting premise, no more power, simpler times, maybe maybe not. Created by Eric Kipke (Supernatural), it plays on a basic fear and a simple desire, to return to a quieter time, a slower pace. Lets see how it plays out, its either Lost or The Event.

Vegas – Dennis Quaid and Michael Chklis star in this period drama, its sheriff vs mob in old school Vegas. Expect lots of Rat Pack references.

Go On – Mathew Perry sitcom, he is getting over the death of his wife with the help of a support group. We’ll see sitcoms are tricky.

Chicago Fire – This is all about the eye candy for me Exhibit A and B.

Arrow – And more eye candy, based on how succesful Smallville was and how pretty Tom Welling was, I am all set to watch this al season. CW knows how to bring the pretty boys to my screen.

Elementary – The BBC Sherlock re-boot airing on Masterpiece Mystery is fantastic, and Benedict Cumberbatch‘s take on Holmes is genius. SO why do we need this version, I guess we will have to tune in to find out if we really need another “quirky” detective series. Just like lawyers before them, they seem to be all the rage lately.

Beauty and The Beast – Curiosity factor only, I wan to see if Kristin Kreuk can play anything besides Lana Lang. I doubt I will stick past three, but The CW could shock me and make this nonsense work. Note to CW, how can a beast be a beast with one huge scar, that’s not much of a beast.

Now that TV season 2012-2013 has been put to bed, let’s reflect on the season finales of some of our favorites.

Did they meet or exceed expectations, or fall flat.

The Vampire Diaries – I knew it was coming, I knew they would turn Elena. It was the road to the last 5 minutes that was so satisfying, the flashbacks with Elena’s parents and Aunt Jenna tieing her past and present together created lovely symmetry and storytelling. If that wasn’t big enough, Klaus has taken over Tyler’s body, which should make all the interactions between Caroline and Tyler creepy but really good next season. Before Elena became a vampire she picked Stefan, but I don’t think that is going to stick, and they killed Ric. I am sure he will be back, nobody ever really dies on TVD.

The Good Wife – Kalinda’s ex is coming, and it looks like a lot of trouble is coming with him. Best scene Eli, Peter, Cary, Alicia and Will at the elevator. Not since the Impala on Supernatural has an inanimate object played such an important part in a TV show. Lockhart/Gardner might be bankrupt thanks to Patti Nyholm and Louis Canning, the always pitch perfect Martha Plimpton and Michael J. Fox. – Met Expectations

Smash – I really really wanted to like this show, I stuck with it all season and hoped it would pull it out for the finale. Boy was I wrong. Kat McPhee was horrible as Marilyn, they ruined the character of Ivy Lynn, and just when you thought it wasn’t possible, Derek became more of a slime ball. Julia’s pregnant, but somehow she and Tom manage to finish the big closing number minutes before curtain and Karen still learns the whole number by the end of the show. Not to mention she learned pretty much the whole show in a day, because that is totally believable. All I can hope is the new executive producer can fix this show, he already fired Ellis (TG) and Dev. I have doubts because the new EP is from Gossip Girl, but maybe, just maybe he can pull it off. – Fail

Scandal – Wow, they really knocked it out of the park with this episode. I can’t wait for this show to come back in the fall. Let me see if I have this straight, Quinn is some kind of fugitive, Cyrus had Amanda killed, the first lady is faking a pregnancy to save her husband’s career. Really can’t wait until for this one to come back. – Exceeded expectations

House – The guest appearances of Kutner (Kal Penn), Cut Throat Bitch/Amber, (Anne Dudek) and Cameron (Jennifer Morrison) were icing on the cake. House faking his death and riding off in the sunset with Wilson was double fudge cake so yummy and satisfying to this long time viewer. The House/Wilson bromance was always the heart of the show, David Shore acknowledged that and showed the fans respect by sending them off together.

Glee – It’s the graduation episode, it should be a big deal, these are characters we have watched for three years, characters we love. Obviously we love them more than Ryan Murphy and the writers, because this send off was lame and made the characters look stupid, it was insulting. The only bright spot, Rachel went to New York, please let her stay there and dont let the show follow her. Kurt and Finn didn’t get into the colleges they applied to, and didn’t have a safety school?!!! Finn enlists in the Army to pay tribute to his Dad, who was a Marine, makes sense right. The graduation ceremony was completely unbelievable, most public schools have a huge graduating class and wouldn’t allow their glee to hi-jack it for a performance. Basically a crap finale for a crap season.

Modern Family – The novella spoof was inspired, Jay (Ed O’Neill) dancing with Lily was hilarious and the perfect set up for the the big ending. Gloria is pregnant. – Exceeded Expectations

Go On – Mathew Perry plays a sports radio host who is trying to come to terms with the death of his wife, he attends a grief support group. I know the premise sounds lame, but the trailer sold me. And I am a big Mathew Perry fan, I will always love the Bing.

Revolution – Do you remember when that special was on last year based on that book, called After Humans, well this show is sort of like this only the humans are still here but all the technology is gone. I don’t know about you but it certainly plays on a big fear we all have today. We have become so dependent on our smartphones and computers. It’s from Erik Kripke (creator of Supernatural), one of my all time favorite shows, J.J. Abrams and Jon Favreau so I will check it out, but I am not sure if I will stick it out. As much as I love Billy Burke, I just don’t know about this one.

Chicago Fire – Stars Jesse Spencer (Chase from House) and Taylor Kinney (Mason from The Vampire Diaries), based on the trailer I am tuning in for two things, hot guys and hot special effects. It pretty much looks like every other show about everyone dating and screwing everyone at their place of work, Grey’s Anatomy, ER, take your pick. Like I said I am in it for the scenery.

CBS

Elementary – Modern Day Sherlock Holmes, I know BCC is already doing that with Sherlock staring Benedict Cumberbatch, but hey its too British for American audiences and I am sure we can do it better. Yeah, we will see about that. What this version lacks in originality it makes up for in casting Johnny Lee Miller as Sherlock and Lucy Liu as Watson. The trailer pulls you in, so I will be checking it out. I realize I don’t need another murder of the week procedural but maybe this one will surprise me.

ABC is offering up a lot of new shows this season but only one looks interesting enough to talk about, Nashville starring Connie Britton.

Britton plays a fading country star, she is pitted against the much younger Hayden Panettiere. It looks like a Country Strong ripoff without the suicide. Could this be this season’s guilty pleasure, I’m gonna have to tune in to find out. BTW excellent supporting cast Eric Close and Powers Boothe.

Arrow – Based on DC comics Green Arrow,(they dropped the Green part from the title ) and not staring Justin Hartley, ( he has another show), this Arrow comes in the form of Stephen Amell as billionaire Oliver Queen back from the dead and ready to fight for the little guy. Katie Cassidy (formerly of Melrose Place) plays his x. The trailer is hot, and looks dark and gritty, I am in.

Beauty and The Beast – Ok, I know all I did was complain about Kristin Kreuk when she was on Smallville, she couldn’t act, she was bland, blah blah, and I doubt she has gotten better, but I am curious to see if the rest of the cast (like the Smallville cast, Alison Mack and Michael Rosenbaum ) will be enough to rinse the bad taste from my mouth. The trailer looks good, and The CW knows how to bring the pretty and the epic romance. But it’s lead in is TVD, and the level of epic romance on that show is hard to compete with. Kristn plays a NY cop (big stretch), and the beast isn’t too beastly looking (please look at the picture) If your beast isn’t ugly, and is easy to fall in love with doesn’t that defeat the whole purpose of the story about loving what’s on the inside.

The Carrie Diaries – Based on the book of the same name, we meet up with high a school agee Carrie Bradshaw, her mother has just died and she is starting an internship in Manhattan where she meets Larissa a writer for Interview magazine and so begins here new life. The show is set in 1984, I can’t wait for the fashions and the music. It is a mid-season replacement, so we will have to wait until January to see how it all began.

Emily Owens, M.D – Stars Mammie Gummer ( Meryl’s daughter) frequent guest star on The Good Wife as a surgeon who is trying to prove herself at a Denver hospital, it also stars Justin Hartley as her love interest. I know hospital shows are a dime a dozen, but this one seems to have a nice comic tone and is more charm than medical.

and finally Cult – This is also a mid-season replacement, and I will admit I am only on board, because Matthew Davis (Alaric from The Vampire Diaries ) is in it. Here is the premise, a scripted TV show about a cult leader, that people start taking seriously and following as a real cult leader. Alaric’s brother gets caught up in the craziness. It’s a show in a show concept, which may be too hard too follow for the average CW viewer. The couldn’t even keep up with Ringer.

-3 liters of blood + head injury x paint fumes = set up for next week’s flashback episode

Really, no one thought to take Elena to the hospital, maybe an MRI or a transfusion was in order. When I make comments like this my boyfriend says, “baby, you are watching a show about vampires, you honestly expect it to be realistic”. Good point, maybe not realistic, but at the very least be true to the characters. Damon and Stefan have professed their undying (ha, get it un-dying) love for Elena, they have saved her life on numerous occasions and neither of them thought she needed medical attention.

I guess the men where too busy planning their road trip, which I have to admit, was a pretty great scene. Damon and Stefan are right up their with some of the all time great TV brothers, right after the Winchesters and Larry, Darryl and Darryl.

In a nutshell, Evilaric wants to kill Klaus, so he takes Caroline hostage to lure Elena to the high school. Elena is Klaus bait after all. In the meantime Klaus shows up the Gilbert house to collect Elena, he is leaving town and he needs his doppelganger, the boys say no way.

The whole sequence at the house was pretty inspired, Klaus tossing things thru the windows, I guess if he couldn’t get in then the pointy end of a picket fence flying thru the air at high-speed is just as good. Of course his aim totally sucks, he missed every time. Stefan gets a call from EvilAlaric, they tell Klaus Elena is gone and Alaric has her, which gives us a great scene between Klaus, Damon and Stefan working together to plot Alaric’s demise. Quick quippy dialogue, lots of snarky bitch biting. Oh boys.

Bonnie has idea, it involves a spell, (big surprise) she says lets use the desiccation spell Abby used on Mikael. The boys head over to the high school, big fight scene, Damon and Stefan knocked out, Alaric is about to stake Klaus which may or may not kill everyone Elena loves, so she stops him. Somehow Elena has figured out that if she dies then Alaric dies, Esther made him a super Vamp that is not immortal, because he is tied to a mortal. Perfect excuse for Alaric to turn Elena in the season finale. This was anvil #1.

Alaric lets Klaus go; Klaus takes Elena to the mansion, instead of taking her with him on the road, he is going to take her blood. In the meantime, Alaric wakes up Damon and Stefan and tells them Klaus took Elena. The head over to the mansion, unfortunately, Klaus has already drained 3 liters of her blood, in the confrontation she hits her head.

Team TVD uses the desiccation spell on Klaus; the spell disables him, but doesn’t kill him. Very convenient that spell, Alaric is satisfied (for the moment) and no one dies (for the moment). I must Joseph Morgan’s acting, coupled with the slowing heartbeat and the CGI really made this scene work for me, it was so engaging. Not to mention Paul Wesley’s eyes, he looked so conflicted, yet so determined to rid them of this monster.

The boys need to get Elena home before dark, Alaric doesn’t have a day walker ring (yet), and he hasn’t been invited into Elena’s home (yet) so if she is in her house he can’t get her. Before they leave Elena tells them she knows she needs to make a decision and choose one of them, she knows it isn’t fair. Wow, it’s only taken her two seasons to realize what a selfish bitch she has been. I guess that is some sort of growth. But as my boyfriend reminds me she is super hot so who cares.

Thinking Elena is safe and sound the boys take off with Klaus’ body, they are going to dump him in the Atlantic so he can’t be revived. Because that worked so well for Connor at the end of season 3 on Angel.

The boy’s road trip, as mentioned above was terrific, short but great. The brother’s decide, that whomever Elena doesn’t choose will leave town. Stefan suggested it first, and it took a few minutes for Damon to agree, but he did. And here comes another anvil. Damon says something like, it will only last 60 years and then we will be reunited. In other words Elena will only live for 60 more years, and once she is dead we can get back together. (anvil #2) Elena is so getting turned in the finale.

If they turn Elena it will solve a lot of problems, Alaric can never die, and Elena’s choice will be delayed since she will be busy adjusting to her new “life”. Who will turn Elena, Alaric? Katherine? Remember Katherine can come back now that Klaus is dead.

When last we saw Alaric he had called a council meeting and outed Sheriff Forbes and Mayor Lockwood for having a vampire daughter and a hybrid son, he revealed himself as a vampire. Will the town pick up their pitchforks and torches and go after Caroline and Tyler?

Last scene, Elena passed out on the floor bleeding from the nose. Head injury leads to coma, leads to flashbacks of her parents and Aunt Jenna.

Next week is the season finale, who lives, who dies, who gets turned into a vampire, and of course is Alaric the big bad for S4, or is some new threat coming. How cool would it be if they brought Jenna back and she and Alaric paired up? Yummy.

Like this:

I guess if we were going to lose Alaric, (Matthew Davis) at least they are giving him a good send off. I remember when they got rid of Cordelia on Angel it was so lame, you could tell how mad the producers were at her for getting pregnant and screwing up their season 4 plans to make her the big bad.

But I digress, back to TVD. Last night’s episode was made of win, coming on the heels of that awesome Damon/Elena kiss this was completely satisfying sex after fantastic foreplay.

I am completely in camp Delena, they are so hot and for the adults, while Stelena are all mushy romantic and boring, I watched all those scenes rolling my eyes with disgust.

Last night’s episode centered around Mystic High’s annual decade dance, dances to TVD are like birthday’s to Buffy, they never end well. Let’s talk about the good first, the costumes, Matt and Jeremy’s budding bromance, Damon and Ric while Ric was dying and Bonnie possessed. The best scene, when everyone came to say good-bye to Ric, I will admit it, I cried, it was so sad.

That lasted all of 5 minutes, and then BAM. Alaric is a super powerful, Vampire who also happens to be a Vampire Hunter, with a white oak stake coated in the melted metal of his resurrection ring. This sequence of events almost makes up for all the Klaus crap this season, I say almost because I don’t know how this going to end up. The actor who plays Alaric has already booked another show on The CW, dead or not he is off the show.

There is a lot of spec on the net that Elena will be turned in the finale, and Damon or Stefan will be made human, it sounds cheesy but I think this show could make it work. As long as it makes Klaus goes away I am all for it.

What didn’t work, the salt line, I have seen enough episodes of Supernatural to know that all you need is a human to scrape their foot through it to break the spell. Anything Klaus, his last scene screaming at this mother in the coffin was so over the top, yeah yeah you are going to raise an evil army, blah blah.

While Ester has all the vamp folk holed up in the gym, she is busy making Alaric into super vamp killer, of course this requires Elena’s blood. Ester gets halfway thru the spell before she is interrupted by Matt and Jeremy. Alaric stakes her, which breaks the boundary spell, but they are too late. Alaric has two choices, drink blood and become a vampire or die. He decides not to complete the transformation and chooses to dies, everyone comes to say good bye, lots of crying ensures,Damon and Ric bond one more time.

But wait, Bonnie, possessed by her witchy friends shows up, she disables Damon and makes Alaric feed on her. He completes the transformation and he is now SuperVamp. Evilaric.

Next Week: Is the second to last episode of the season, usually this is the episode when all the shit goes down. Klaus is going to try to leave town with Elena (like that will ever happen), but meets with resistance from an unlikely source. Stefan and Damon talk about the future.

The residents travel to San Francisco for the oral boards; sparks fly when Richard and Catherine (Debbie Allen) bump into each other at a hotel; Alex feels guilty about being away from the hospital when Tommy’s health takes a turn for the worse.

An escaped lion puts lives and relationships in danger; Lexie hears Mark talking about moving in with Julia; Teddy begins to come to terms with Henry’s death; Callie asks Arizona about her past relationships.

Martin comes across a man who has a history with his late wife; a couple that has an instrument-repair business works with an Iraqi band; the band’s teenage fan wants to share his comedic talent with a U.S. soldier.

Lets just boil it down, the good, anything with Damon, the bad, once again we can’t kill Klaus. Will you please wrap up this plot, this has been the worst thing about this season. Most shows usually hit their stride in Season 3, everything has gelled, characters, the network loves the show we are rolling but not TVD.

Scenes I loved, Damon and Alaric, Damon’s faux Elena rescue, and I know this is wrong but Damon being tortured. Next time, can we get the shirt off completely before we string him up. The gang practicing their attack at the beginning of the episode was pretty good, nice moments when Damon called Matt “Beefcake” and Caroline “Barbie”. Again we love Damon. He is the Spike of TVD.

It’s not sweeps so I knew there was no way Klaus was going to bite it last night (ha made a funny) but to dash my hopes with another BS spell loophole. Oh show, how you annoy me. So the new twist is, if you kill an original it will kill everyone they have sired.

The gang has to figure out if any of the originals sired the person who sired Katherine. One thing we do know, Klaus sired Tyler, so we definitely can’t kill Klaus because it would kill Tyler. Tyler who is barely on the show, will it be the big sacrifice of the season, or will Bonnie pull some more BS magic out of her ass and save him.

The use of magic on this show demonstrates just how lazy the writers and show runners are, its their out every week. Boring!!

Once again Bonnie is used and abused, poor Kat Graham she is so much better than the way this show treats her. Maybe Bonnie should cast a spell and blow them all up, they would so deserve it, or at the very least Julie Plec and Kevin Williamson.

Nice product placement with the AT&T 4G smartphones, watch Klaus use his stylus to write a text message, see Jeremy play with his dog on video chat. Then watch the AT&T commercial at the break and buy the phone, so you can be just like them, sans the blood lust of course.

The rest of the episode was meh, we had Stefan and Elena angst, Elena pretending to be made at Damon, this is the most boring love triangle ever. Stefan and Damon could do so much better. The show is off for two weeks.

Spoilers indicate we have the decade dance coming up, someone is going to die (yawn). I remember when this show was so good at surprises and suspense. remember Katherine’s return at the end of season 1, OMG!!! I jumped, we all jumped.

There is also a flashback episode featuring the return of Aunt Jenna, and the finale will introduce the big bad for next year.